Bancour Region

The Bancour region is on the continent of Kerwon. While not in Jagd territory, at this point of the game the Strahl is damaged, so you’ve got to walk. Ah, video game logic.

Ozmone Plain

Wide region of plains in Bancour, bordering Dalmasca. Mostly tall grasses, though here and there can be seen volcanic rock formations. In the past, a great battle was fought in the skies over Ozmone Plain. The decaying airshipwrecks punctuating the plains are monuments to the carnage once wrought here.

Sage Knowledge 70

I’ve always really enjoyed the Ozmone Plains; it’s a fun, bright area after the dreariness that was the Rains in Giza. Considering you have to run back and forth through the plains multiple times for plot reasons (not even sidequesting) I suppose it’s a good thing it’s a fun area.

The Ozmone Plains are home to a couple really good grinding spots. First up is the Switchback area, home to the Mesmenir enemy. Their rare drop, the Destrier Mane, sells for 808 gil (requires Hunter’s Monograph), but their common drop, the Iron Carapace, sells for 413 gil. Mesmenir show up in other areas of the Ozmone Plains, but it’s very easy to spawn them just from running in loops in the Switchback. Unfortunately it’s not easy to chain just them on account of the snake enemies spawning out of the grass, but even that doesn’t really matter too much considering how good their loot drops are. You can chain the Mesmenir if you really try, but it’s honestly not worth the effort.

If you still need the various monographs, this is one of the best places in the game to easily make all the gil you need for them. It won’t take long and it’s pretty easy to do.

If you need LP, on the other hand, the Zaghnal enemy is the first common enemy that drops 2 LP per enemy. Couple of notes about the Zaghnal: they usually spawn in two or threes (or more), and when you aggro one, the others will typically come and start attacking as well. Be sure you’re prepared to take them all on. It’s well worth it, though, especially if you’ve got Golden Amulets — and by this point you should, because you can reach Mosphoran Highwaste via chocobo by this point in the game. In IZJS you will only have one or two Golden Amulets when you first get to Ozmone Plain, but the Enkelados Hunt mission, which you can accept in Jahara and which takes place on the Shred in Ozmone, will net you another.

I generally use the Ozmone Plain to grind to get the rest of the monographs I need and get the third quickenings on all six characters. Neither are necessary at this point of the game if you’re just following the plot, but since they’re both easy to get right here I figure why not.

One interesting feature about this area is that you can use a chocobo to get to areas that aren’t accessible by foot. This also shows up a couple of times in Archadia, and I’ve always thought it was a really neat idea considering how FFXII’s map is entirely geared around you walking everywhere. Why not use chocobos for secret areas? Chocobos are also enemies that you can fight in this area (and have to fight, if they aggro on you!), a callback to Final Fantasy Tactics. I dunno about you, but I wouldn’t want to get in a chocobo’s way.

Jahara

A garif village in Bancour. Here, a chieftain elder watches of the old ways, and so administers the tribe. Though many other villages dot the area, there is little direct communication between them. The garif have worshiped magicite since ancient times, and tribal legends tend much wisdom concerning the Stones. When the time is right, the elders teach these lesson to the youth of the village, and, on rare occasion, to visitors from other lands. Abhorring machinery and iron, much of the garif material culture is based on wood and stone and other unmanufactured things. Their houses made of grass and strips of leather allow a breeze to pass through, and are uniquely suited to the hot, arid climate. On the hill overlooking the village is a meeting lodge, warmed always by a bonfire. Near the lodge are the elders' huts, and below the hill is a clearing ringed by a healer's hut, and the tents of craftsmen, as well as a place to take care of the livestock, called "nanna" in the garif tongue. Dalmasca has for many years honored the ways of the garif, and so kept up a peaceful trade and relations with this isolated people.

Sage Knowledge 69

Jahara is a neat little area, and the garif are a cool race; it’s a shame they don’t show up any further in the plot than they do. I covered most of my thoughts on them in talking about the garif over here.

From a gameplay perspective there’s also not much to do in Jahara. You start a couple of hunts here, and I have spent so much time grinding on Ozmone Plain that I’ve given that shopkeeper a ton of business, but other than that there’s not a whole lot to talk about.

Henne Mines

Crystal mines in the mountainous region of Bancour still producing a great variety of magicite, even as other mines around them close, their veins dry and spent. The Archadian Empire possesses mining rights here, making this a key location for their acquisition of the stones, bypassing intermediaries and fluctuating markets.

Sage Knowledge 74

The Henne Mines are one of those areas you visit for plot reasons and then come back to way later for sidequest reasons. The first time you go there it’s a straightforward dungeon; there’s a very simple puzzle with the switches but it’s not hard to figure out where to go. In the Phase 1 Dig, you’ll find a couple of areas that aren’t marked on the map; typically they’ll contain a couple of treasure pots.

In IZJS, the Zodiac Spear appears in a treasure pot in the Special Charter Shaft of the Henne Mines, with a 1% spawn rate. However, only the Uhlan job can equip it. It is the best spear, though it's no longer the ultimate weapon. Your call on how much effort you want to put into getting it. More on this here.

You can use the Jellies in Pithead Junction B for an endless grinding spot if you want; if you kill them with the spell Break (requires Time Battlemage in IZJS), they’ll infinitely respawn. You can thus set up your gambits so that they keep spawning over and over without you having to touch your controller. I’ve never actually used this spot (I prefer the Negalmuur trick), but it’s there if you want it.

You’ll return to the Henne Mines much later to fight Zodiark and take on a few other quests. I personally always find the Mindflayer hunt incredibly frustrating.